Driver suffers heart attack following rear-end wreck — $500,000 settlement

Injuries alleged: Myocardial infarction

Date resolved: Nov. 6, 2024

Special damages: $177,629.67 in medical bills

Demand: $500,000

Offer: $500,000

Attorneys for plaintiff: Geoffrey R. McDonald and Gianni A. Puglielli, Richmond, Geoff McDonald & Associates

Description of case: In March 2021, the plaintiff was involved in a car crash with the defendant on Chippenham Parkway in Chesterfield County. The plaintiff provided in-home living assistance for work and was traveling to the store with her client. The plaintiff slowed for traffic in front of her when she was rear-ended by the defendant, who admitted that she took her eyes off the road and failed to stop in time.

Following the crash, the plaintiff presented to the emergency room, where she complained of hot flashes and tachycardia with a resting heart rate of 140 beats per minute. Blood work showed that the plaintiff had elevated troponin levels, an indication that she was experiencing a heart attack. The plaintiff received CT scans of her neck, head, abdomen and chest, and had two EKGs performed. She was transferred via stretcher to the cardiac lab. She underwent a catheterization — a procedure that entails the insertion of a camera through an artery in the wrist to inspect the heart — and was diagnosed with a heart attack.

The cardiologist successfully performed an emergency procedure in which he placed a drug-eluting stent in the plaintiff’s heart to keep her arteries open and stop the heart attack.

However, after the procedure, the plaintiff underwent an echocardiogram, which showed that she had sustained muscular damage to her heart and that its functioning had declined. She was in the hospital for two nights before she was released.

The plaintiff’s heart attack and resulting damage caused significant symptoms and impairments of her quality of life. She experienced shortness of breath during ordinary physical activity, such as walking up a flight of stairs, and was unable to complete normal activities of daily living. Since the crash, the plaintiff lived with her adult child because she required assistance with simple chores, such as cutting the grass and taking out the garbage. Most significantly, the plaintiff refrained from certain activities and exercise because she feared that her heart would fail again.

Three days before the jury trial, the matter settled for $500,000.

Plaintiff’s counsel’s law firm, Geoff McDonald & Associates, provided case information.

[025-T-058]